November 9th, 2015

Good day, beloved family and friends,

It was another week flown by and I don't even know what happened.

So working with a Nihonjin companion again has proved absolutely wonderful and VERY humbling. I had been praying for opportunities to become more humble while working with Horne Choro and I suppose this past emergency transfer goes to show that God answers prayers. I have remembered that I have the comprehension and ability to speak of a ten year old kid. It's been a little bit of an adjustment, but Koyama Choro has been great about it all. His attitude is very relaxed and easy going and it makes for a good combo with my high stress and "get er done" mentality.  We work well together so far and I am learning a lot from him each day.

His week we have done a lot of member visits and tried to help them get to know Koyama Choro more. I think that has been really great for us and the area. The simple fact is that in Japan missionaries are not finding investigators on their own. We NEED the members and the baptism rate for member referrals is about seventy five percent, whereas while finding by ourselves the numbers are horribly dismal. Maybe one in a thousand listen to you and accept baptism. So recently Nagano Kaicho has emphasized working with the youth and becoming their older brothers and sisters in hopes that they will follow our example and help the work move forward. This past week on Tuesday we had president interviews in Matsudou. He talked a lot about this vision for the youth and talked the whole time. It was more of a seminar than an interview hahaha, but it was great! It really helped me get excited to work here more and strengthen the youth. He also told me that I would most likely be in Kamagaya for a VERY long time, haha. So I'm prepped to be here for the long hall. He also gave me some great  advice about improvement and focusing my efforts. I have a very logical mind and look at all things in life as a series of checklists. Of course this checklist mentality does not work with missionary work, and he counseled me to change a few thing s to better help with that. It was a really great interview. I sure do love Nagano Kaicho.

We didn't meet with Yuuta till Saturday so I'll wait to talk about that. Over the next few days we visited less actives and members sharing brief messages in the genkan--or little porch area where they take off and leave their shoes. There is one inactive member who is very interesting. He was baptized about thirty years ago because he liked playing volleyball with the missionaries, and never came back to church. He comes to some activities we have here, but never comes to sacrament meeting. We invited him to an upcoming talent show and he seemed really excited about that. I hope we can dig down into his heart. He has met with many different missionaries but they never have been able to help him. He is very lonely and always acts like we are inconveniencing him when we visit, but within five minutes he is smiling, laughing and chatting up a storm and thanks us profusely for coming to see him. Nihonjin men are so funny. Nothing is ever wrong and they never have any weaknesses or need any help hahaha. We will see what works with softening his heart. We also visited a less active who was baptized a year ago, but right after baptism had been scheduled to work every Sunday by his boss. He has come to church maybe three times in a year. He used to come to eikaiwa and we would teach him after class, but he got transferred for work and couldn't come anymore so we decided this past week to visit him more. He was very happy to see us and still has a very strong testimony, he simply has no courage to do what he knows is right. We'll keep working on him.

On Saturday we met win Yuuta San. We taught him about the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Our member who attended was awesome. His name is Hirano Kyodai and he is so great. He doesn't act like a Nihonjin at all which is perfect. He tells you what he thinks and what he knows is right with no fluff or cream. It's what the people here need. There are too many rules of conduct and too many customs that make it so people, specifically members, are afraid to do missionary work. Not Hirano Kyodai. He testified so powerfully and Yuuta was hanging on every word. He is still praying and reading and said this week he felt a few small impressions, so he is beginning to feel the spirit. Please pray that he will feel it more strongly and receive the confirmation he is waiting for. 

Sunday was awesome. One of the members we visited and got to know was the Kannari couple. They are the older parents of some younger families in the ward. They asked us to come over and teach their grandkids the plan of salvation. Beforehand they fed us spare ribs and potatoes for dinner. At was about as close to America I have come since being here haha. Anyway as we ate and talked I found out that they knew president Hotta very well, dad. (Dad's mission president from Sapporo)  They took many pictures and wrote down my name, since they couldn't pronounce or remember it, and said they would email him soon. I thought that was cool. There are several older couples who know the Hotta's very well.  The lesson was so fun. The kids were adorable and loved the puzzles and figures we used to teach the he plan of salvation. At the end we committed the kids to showing more love and had the grandparents stand in the middle of the room, while the kids and parents gathered around and had a huge group hug. It was perfect because that kind of thing is unheard of here so everyone was awkward and weird, but they all laughed and eventually embraced it. All the parents and the Kannaris were very appreciative of what we taught and how we taught it. It was a really fun evening and the members are really coming to trust us.

Thiss letter is not as full of events, but this week was simply a lot of work. We didn't have many appointments, but we did things each day to stay busy and work as well as we could. I can feel the power of your prayers and the influence all of your collective faith is having here. Please keep it coming and PLEASE go help the missionaries as often as you can. Even if it is ten minutes go help them. I love you all and LOVE reading all your letters. I won't take time this time to say it all specifically, but know that I truly am thankful for the support and love of you all. I miss you!!

Elder Viehweg 

District Meeting

Natto Yuck

Koyama Choro